Becoming increasingly frstrated with this car!

[Jezzza]

Hi all,

Im hoping someone can help me out before I resort to getting rid of this thing! I really dont want to as I have spent about 40-50 hours on this car in the last month!
I know its a long post, but please read through it all!

Its a 98 Legnum, 167,000 kms on it. Car is completely stock mechanically. No error codes apart from SRS air bag
History of car was that it sat idle for a long time > then someone bought it to fix, but never ended up doing anything to it > then I bought it and have been working on it
Since driving the car home, IN TOTAL the car has only been driven for 5-10 minutes at a time (maybe around 3-4 times on different days), and idled in the garage for 10 mins (for about 5-6 times) .. NEVER thrashed!
Car does not seem to lack power, and operation of revving and gear changes is smooth

Items completed on car which may be contributing to my problems. Most of these things were completed around the same time as car was on jack stands and not driven
Ill list in order of completion:
- Engine oil and filter change, I used Nulon 5W-30 full synthetic
**Car started, and idled - noticed lifters were louder. MAF was disconnected when started**
- Replaced ATF fluid
- Replaced stock exhaust (turbo back) with a better condition stock exhaust. CAT was the same, had to remove O2 sensor, but put back.
**Car started, and idled. MAF disconnected - intake pipe actually had a rag covering it at the time**
- Replaced stock air filter with K&N air filter
**Car started, and idled. Performed lifter bleed. MAF reconnected**
- Throttle body cleaner
**Car started, and idled and rev'ed. MAF disconnected**
- Changed fuel filter
**Car started, and idled and taken for a drive. MAF connected**
Note that I did not purposely disconnect the MAF at above stages, it was simply disconnected because I was working on certain areas and had to disconnect to make my job easier at the time

Problem #1 - Car has small hesitation when starting for first time, but can usually start first time. Revs to over 2,000 rpm, but does lower to 1,000 rpm. I assume this is normal operation. When warm starts fine.
Have replaced battery which seemed to help alot ~600 CCA
Old fuel was stale/off, very small amount so diluted with ~35L of 98 RON and injector cleaner

Problem #2 - Car smells like it is running rich
Have had MAF disconnected and car started - Did the ECU "learn" to run rich? (See problem 4)

Problem #3 - Oil in my intake piping/turbo compressor housing
Possibly not a major problem, but wanting to find where the crankcase ventilation is, maybe it needs a catch can? Or its blocked?

Problem #4 - White smoke from exhaust, smells like it is running rich (This didnt seem to happen when I inspected the car, only noticed it after I changed the oil, air filter and used throttle body cleaner)
Yes.. I know the ol head gasket issue, but doesnt seem to have any other symptoms of a head gasket
From my experience, symptoms of a leaky head gasket are
- White smoke [check] - but doesnt smell like coolant.. smells rich
- Hard to start [maybe] - Could be plugs/running rich/host of other problems
- Loss of coolant [no]
- Oily coolant [no]
- "constant" bubbles in coolant [no]
- Water in oil [no] - Did an oil change and didnt notice anything
- Overheating [no]

Sorry for the length of post! But hopefully I have captured everything I have done
Can the ECU be "reset" by disconnecting the battery?

Thanks all in advanced

[Amonlym]

The lay-up, short drive times and lack of being pushed might be the issue for all of this - at very least for problems 2 and 4.

#2 - the cat is hard to get warm, it will smell funny until you do get it hot - none of your current drives sound sufficient to even get the engine out of the cold start over-fuel - leading to #4, while misty smoke from exhaust which wont clear till the engine is properly warmed up.

#1 i would suspect to be spark plugs or slightly gummed injectors - next opportunity try priming the fuel system with key on key off cycles before crank. if you have a fuel pressure gauge to check the fuel system gains and holds pressure to exclude pump and regulator leaving possible issues being coils, sparks or injectors. (fire triangle - fuel, oxygen, heat)

#3 I am sure there is another discussion going on regarding this topic on the forum for another user - the info you need might be there.

I would try going for an hour long drive at highway speeds with a bit of spirit and see A - if you get oil smoke and B - if the symptoms change when its red-hot fresh off the road having been blasted clean. you have done all the preventative maintenance - just flush out the old fuel, get some of that injector cleaner through the injectors and give the ECU time to learn.

The ECU will run from a map when cold then go to closed loop operation as the car warms up. closed loop is analysing many sensors and decides on the fuelling real-time. two trims are stored, short and long term. the long term changes over the course of minutes and tries to make the short term close to 0. the short term changes in seconds to respond to changes in the driving situation - so don't worry about ECU - as long as the AFM and O2 were reconnected properly and work well.

[SEAN-NZ]

why run it with afm disconnected? that'll mess with fueling, and as above with the white smoke, take it for a decent drive, probably just condensation sitting in it that'll need to be blasted out, i know my first legnum used to collect water, although that was stored outside, but if its not using coolant then its probably just condensation or something

[Jezzza]

Ok thanks. Ive disconnected the battery for now, maybe the ECU will reset
A bit hard to take for a long drive without lights and front bar!! haha

[Davezj]

I have a some question.
AFM I presume is Air Flow Meter.
If so it is a MAF (Mass Air Flow sensor/meter)
Just to make sure we are talking about the same thing.
So here is the question.
Why are you disconnecting it all the time. As you seem to think this plays a significant roll in the service/repair sequence.
Disconnecting the MAF and running the car with it disconnected will confuse the ECU and flag up error codes.
If you do run the car without the MAF connected then disconnect the battery for 30 sec and reconnect it will clear the codes.
But it will make the engine run a bit tough for the first 10 mins or so at idle and also make the auto box shifts rough until you drive it for 50 miles or so.
Starting the car and lifting idle for 5-10 mins will promote condensation in the exhaust if there is dampness in the air. when you start it again you will likely get lots of white smoke out the back until all the condensation is burnt off.



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[Jezzza]

Ah yes sorry.. MAF.
I had it d/c because I took it all out to do ATF fluid. I was waiting on the air filter and trans filter

Didnt think I would hurt it D:

[Davezj]

No the reason why I mention it is because you specifically say at each stage you disconnected the MAF.
I just wondered why.

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[Jezzza]

Ah right. Sorry I meant that I had the MAF disconnected because of other reasons. I didnt purposely disconnect the MAF
Thanks for pointing it out

[Davezj]

To cover one of your issue the car smells like it is running rich.
It will do VR4 run rich as standard. Particularly when they start.
Very rich, very rich until they full warm up. Which will take longer than a 5-10 idle.

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[paulg23]

I run mine at weekends only. It lives outside. Always starts first time but does idle at 2000 rpm for the first 20 seconds or so then slowly drops down to less than 1000rpm. In cold weather I leave a nice large cloud of steam (water vapour) behind me for the first mile or so... just getting condensation out of the exhaust. Yes, it smells rich until it is hot.
My old engine (changed at 180,000 miles) always had oil in the intake pipes but still held boost (12 psi ) and pulled like a train. So all sounds pretty normal to me.

[Nick Mann]

Honestly, I don't think you have a problem. The high revs at start up are a little abnormal but the car learns its fuel trims and idle speeds after a battery disconnect so you could well just be in the learning phase still.

"Problems" 2, 3 and 4 are all very normal for a stock VR4.

[Jezzza]

Oh great. Worrying about nothing then!
Thanks all.. Was just frustrated as ive spent a good 20-30 hours sanding the damn thing down for a repaint!!

Im going to do plugs as they look pretty old

[elnevio]

Yes, seems mostly 'normal' operation to me!

I would consider adding to the to do list getting the injectors properly cleaned (i.e. remove and send off for a sonic job), and maybe remove and clean out the stepper motor.

Probably worth going one heat range colder on the spark plugs, so using NGK BKR7EIX or Denso VK22. These plugs should already be pre-gapped to 0.8mm, which is the correct gap for the 6A13TT. Especially if you will be turning the boost up a bit.

[Jezzza]

Thanks. Car is completely stock, and hopefully be left that way haha

[Jezzza]

Cars not blowing smoke any more

[elnevio]

Cars not blowing smoke any more